Storage and retrieval device for optical discs

ABSTRACT

A device for storing optical discs is disclosed. The device includes a housing, a carousel arranged in the housing for movement relative to the housing, the carousel having a plurality of storage compartments each for storing a disc, an opening in the housing through which a disc can pass, drive means for driving the carousel relative to the housing to align each of the storage compartments and a disc stored in that storage compartment in registry with the opening, and an ejection system to eject a disc from a storage compartment and through the opening in said housing. The ejection system is powered by a motor and a clutch system, and control means is provided to cause said carousel to rotate and to cause the ejection system to operate as instructed by a user.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to computers and other electronic devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to a storage device for storing programmed or programmable media in disc form, such as a CD ROM, DVD or a music CD, which is to be used with a computer such as a personal computer or another device such as a DVD player or music CD player

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

As is well known, information stored on DVD's, CD ROM discs, music compact discs and the like are commonly used with computers and audio and video equipment. Typically, such optical discs are stored in a storage rack or box and the receiving device includes an optical drive into which a disc is inserted.

Generally, in order to use an optical disc, the operator will insert the disc into the receiving device and initiate its operation.

However, before inserting the disc into the receiving device, the operator must manually locate the relevant optical disc and insert it into the optical disc reader of the receiving device. If the receiving device is a computer, the computer can then read and/or write onto the disc and run the program in accordance with the software contained on the CD ROM. If the receiving device is of another type, the device can interact with data or software contained on the disc under the control of software or data included in the receiving device.

The handling of optical discs, particularly if an operator has a large number of optical discs, can be time consuming and bothersome because of the number of optical discs which need to be stored and then the number which may have to be manually searched through in order to provide the data, file, or other information or material the operator wishes to access.

A CD storage device aimed at solving these problems is described in International Patent Application number PCT/AU01/0063 1, titled “CD ROM Storage Device” filed 28 May 2001 and published 5 Dec. 2002 under international Publication Number 02/097808 A1, by applicant Project Lab Pty Ltd. With reference to FIG. 1, the Project Lab application teaches a CD storage device which includes a case 10 in which a circular storage member 12 is supported for rotation in the case. The circular storage member 12 has a number compartments 14 formed between ribs 16 each for storing a CD 18. The device includes a controlling circuit board, not shown, which can couple with a computer so that CD's can be stored and retrieved by inputting information into the computer which causes the circular storage member to rotate to present the storage compartment having the required CD at an opening 20 for discharge. The device includes an ejector for ejecting CDs from a storage compartment 14. However, in some circumstances the ejector disclosed in the Project Lab patent application has shortcomings, and improvements to the ejector system are desirable.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A device for storing optical discs is disclosed. The device includes a housing, a carousel arranged in the housing for movement relative to the housing, the carousel having a plurality of storage compartments each for storing a disc, an opening in the housing through which a disc can pass, drive means for driving the carousel relative to the housing to align each of the storage compartments and a disc stored in that storage compartment in registry with the opening, and an ejection system to eject a disc from a storage compartment and through the opening in said housing. The ejection system is powered by a motor and a clutch system, and control means is provided to cause the carousel to rotate and to cause said ejection system to operate as instructed by a user.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated into and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate one or more embodiments of the present invention and, together with the detailed description, serve to explain the principles and implementations of the invention.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an exploded isometric view of an embodiment of a prior art device.

FIG. 2 is a partially exploded view of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a partially exploded view of the embodiment of FIG. 1 with the top removed.

FIG. 4 is a view of a roller of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an isometric view of view of a roller system of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a partially exploded view of the embodiment of FIG. 1 with the top removed.

FIG. 7 is a top view of the embodiment of FIG. 1 with the top removed.

FIG. 8 is another partially exploded view of the embodiment of FIG. 1 with the top removed.

FIG. 9 is an isometric view of a pulley of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a cross section of the pulley of FIG. 9, taken along line 10-10.

FIG. 11 is a top view of a cam of the present embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a side view of a cam of the present embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a bottom view of a cam of the present embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a top, isometric view of a cam of the present embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a bottom, isometric view of a cam of the present embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a cut away side view of the device of FIG. 7 taken along line 16-16.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present invention are described herein in the context of a storage and retrieval device for optical discs. Those of ordinary skill in the art will realize that the following detailed description of the present invention is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. Other embodiments of the present invention will readily suggest themselves to such skilled persons having the benefit of this disclosure. Reference will now be made in detail to implementations of the present invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The same reference indicators will be used throughout the drawings and the following detailed description to refer to the same or like parts.

In the interest of clarity, not all of the routine features of the implementations described herein are shown and described. It will, of course, be appreciated that in the development of any such actual implementation, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made in order to achieve the developer's specific goals, such as compliance with application- and business-related constraints, and that these specific goals will vary from one implementation to another and from one developer to another. Moreover, it will be appreciated that such a development effort might be complex and time-consuming, but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking of engineering for those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure.

Turning now to FIG. 2 the present embodiment is shown in exploded form. The device includes a housing 30 which includes a housing base 32 and a housing cover 34, and an opening 36 is formed in the front of the housing 30 to permit CD's to be inserted into and removed from the device.

In FIG. 3 the device is shown with the housing cover 34 removed, and partially in exploded form. A carousel 40 is mounted for rotation on a post 42 located in the housing base 32, and a carousel cap 44 is mounted to the post 42 on top of the carousel to hold the carousel 40 in place. The carousel includes a plurality of slots 46 located radially around the carousel to hold discs, and the carousel is mounted to the post 42 so that the carousel can rotate. A carousel drive system, not shown, is mounted to the housing base 32 to controllably rotate the carousel 40, and a roller assembly 48 is mounted to the front side of the housing base 32.

Turning to FIGS. 4 and 5, the roller assembly 48 is shown comprising a chassis 50 with a vertically oriented slot 52 formed in the center. A roller mount 54 is located on one side of the slot 52, and roller 60 is rotatably connected to mount 54. A second roller mount, not shown, is connected to the opposite side of slot 52 and a second roller 56 is rotatably connected to the second roller mount. The second roller mount is solidly connected to the chassis 50, and roller mount 54 is coupled to a side of slot 52 by two springs 55 so that the roller 60 is biased toward roller 56. The rollers comprise a drive roller 56 and an idler roller 60 and the drive roller 56 has a roller pulley wheel 62 attached to its lower end. Thus, when the roller pulley wheel 62 is rotated, the drive roller 56 rotates which in turn causes the idler roller 60 to rotate, and if a disc is engaged between the rollers, the disc is moved either into or out of the device. A sensor PCB assembly 64 is connected to the chassis 50 to sense when a disc is entering or leaving the rollers, and electrical cable 66 is connected to the sensor PCB assembly 64 to convey signals to a control circuit, not shown.

Turning now to FIGS. 6-8 a drive system 70 is shown mounted to the housing base 32, and the drive system 70 includes a roller drive belt 72, which is an endless belt having a square cross section. One end of the roller drive belt 72 is connected to the roller pulley wheel 62, and the other end is connected to the drive system 70. An ejector arm 74 is connected to the housing base 32, and the ejector arm 74 is driven by the drive system 70. The ejector arm 74 includes two posts 76 which are connected to form a hinge with posts 80, molded in the base 32, and the ejector arm 74 includes a lifting member 78 mounted at the end of the arm 74 opposite the posts 76. The ejector arm 74 also includes a follower 82 mounted between the lifting member 78 and the posts 76. Accordingly, when the follower 82 is moved up or down, the ejector arm 74 pivots about the hinges 80, and the lifting member 78 moves up and down as well.

The ejection system also includes a clutch system which includes a clutch shaft 84 mounted to the housing base 32, and a clutch pulley 86 is mounted to the clutch shaft 84. As best shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, the clutch pulley 86 has an upper V-shaped section 90 and a lower V-shaped section 92. One belt runs in each of the V shaped sections 90 and 92. At the top of the clutch pulley 86 is a first disc 100 and below the first disc 100 is a second disc 102 which has a larger diameter than the first disc 94. A motor 104 is connected to the housing base 32, the shaft of the motor 104 is connected to a pulley drive belt 106, and the opposite end of the pulley drive belt 106 is located in the lower V-shaped section 92 of the clutch pulley 86. The roller drive belt 72 has one end located in the upper V-shaped section 90 of the clutch pulley 86, and the opposite end of the roller drive belt 72 is connected to the roller pulley wheel 62. Thus it can be understood that the motor 104 can drive the clutch pulley 86 to rotate which in turn drives the drive roller 56 to rotate.

On the top of the second disc 102 of the clutch pulley 86 is mounted a slipping washer 110 fabricated of a material with appropriate frictional characteristics. In the present embodiment, felt is the preferred material, although other materials could be used in appropriate circumstances. Above the slipping washer 110 is mounted a cam 112, a spring 114, a washer 116 and a retainer 118. The spring 114, washer 116 and retainer 118 are designed to provide downward force on the cam 112 to result in desired frictional relationship between the cam 112 and clutch pulley 86.

As best shown in FIGS. 11-15 the cam 112 includes a generally cylindrical, hollow body 120 which is closed at the bottom and open at the top, and a hole is formed in the top to accommodate the clutch shaft 84. A helical shelf 122 is affixed to the outer surface of the body 120. A stop 124 is affixed to the body and the stop 124 terminates the ends of the helical shelf 122.

The operation of the device can now be understood. Initially, optical discs are located inside the housing in slots 46 of the carousel 40. Each disc is supported by the carousel 40, and the carousel is constructed with slots so that part of the disc protrudes downward through the carousel 40 as illustrated in FIG. 16. At this time the cam 112 is in its most clockwise position so that the portion of the helical shelf 122 supporting the follower 82 is at its lowest position, and thus the lifting member 78 is at its lowest position, as illustrated in FIG. 16. At this time the lifting member 78 does not contact a disc 18. When the operator desires to eject a disc from the device, the operator instructs his computer to cause the device to operate so that the carousel 40 rotates and the desired disc is aligned with the opening 36 in the housing 30. Then the motor 104 operates so that its shaft rotates thereby causing the ejection system to operate, and the clutch pulley 86 and the cam 112 rotate. The rotation of the clutch pulley 86 causes the drive roller 56 to rotate although at this time no disc is between the rollers. Simultaneously, the cam 122 rotates in a counterclockwise direction (as viewed from above) which raises the portion of the helical shelf which supports the follower 82, which in turn causes the lifting member 78 to rise and contact a disc thereby moving the disc upward and outward toward the roller assembly 48. Once the lifting member 78 has reached its maximum height, the disc has been engaged by the rollers. At this time the stop 124 of the cam 112 contacts the follower 82 and the cam 112 stops rotating. However, the motor 104 continues to operate and the clutch pulley 86 continues to rotate relative to the cam 112 because slippage occurs against the slipping washer 110. The clutch pulley 86 continues to rotate until the disc has been substantially ejected from the device by the rollers, at which time the sensor PCB assembly 64 senses the absence of a disc and the control system stops the motor 104. The disc is retained in the rollers to a small extent so that it does not fall but is easily removed by the operator pulling the disc forward the last small amount. Once the sensor board detects that the disc has been completely removed from the rollers the control system reverses the direction of the motor and resets the cam 122 to its most clockwise position so that the follower 82 is in its lowest position.

When a user inserts a disc, essentially the opposite process takes place. The sensor board detects a disc approaching the rollers which causes the rollers to rotate and move the disc into the carousel slot.

While embodiments and applications of this invention have been shown and described, it would be apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of this disclosure that many more modifications than mentioned above are possible without departing from the inventive concepts herein. The invention, therefore, is not to be restricted except in the spirit of the appended claims. 

1. A device for storing optical discs, the device comprising: a) a housing; b) a carousel arranged in the housing for movement relative to the housing, the carousel having a plurality of storage compartments each for storing a disc; an opening in the housing through which a disc can pass; c) drive means for driving the carousel relative to the housing to align each of the storage compartments and a disc stored in that storage compartment in registry with the opening; d) an ejection system to eject a disc from a storage compartment and through the opening in said housing, said ejection system being powered by a motor and a clutch system; and, e) control means to cause said carousel to rotate and to cause said ejection system to operate as instructed by a user.
 2. A device according to claim 1 wherein said ejection system comprises: a) a roller assembly coupled to said housing to cause a disc to move through said opening; b) an ejector arm mounted to said housing and capable of causing a disc to move from a stored position in a storage compartment to said roller assembly; and, c) a drive system coupled to said ejector arm and said roller assembly to cause said ejector arm and said roller assembly to operate.
 3. A device according to claim 2 wherein: a) said roller assembly comprises two rollers mounted for rotation, and one of said rollers comprises a roller pulley; and, b) said ejection system comprises a motor and a clutch system coupled to drive said roller pulley and to drive said ejector arm.
 4. A device according to claim 3 wherein said clutch system comprises: a) a cam; and, b) a clutch pulley connected to said motor and to said cam member to drive said cam member.
 5. A device according to claim 3 wherein said clutch system comprises:: a) a clutch pulley; b) a slipping washer; and, c) a clutch cam.
 6. A device according to claim 1 wherein said ejection system comprises a single motor to drive both said ejector arm and said roller assembly.
 7. A device according to claim 1 wherein said ejection system operates to move said ejector arm from a first position to a second position while simultaneously causing said rollers to rotate.
 8. A device according to claim 1 wherein: a) said ejection system is designed and constructed to operate so that said ejector arm moves from a first position to a second position to thereby move a disc from a stored position in a storage compartment to said rollers to be engaged by said rollers; and, b) thereafter said ejector arm becomes stationary while said drive system continues to operate the rollers to thereby eject the disc from said device.
 9. A device according to claim 1 wherein: a) said ejection system comprises a cam; b) said ejection system is designed and constructed to operate so that said cam rotates to move the ejector arm from a first position to a second position to thereby move a disc from a stored position in a storage compartment to said rollers to be engaged by said rollers; and, c) thereafter said cam becomes stationary and said ejector arm becomes stationary while said drive system continues to operate said rollers to thereby eject the disc from said device.
 10. A process for operating a device for storing optical discs, the device including a housing having an opening through which a disc can pass, a carousel, an ejection system to eject a disc from a storage compartment and through the opening in said housing, and control means to cause said carousel to rotate and to cause said ejection system to operate as instructed by a user, the process comprising: a) operating said ejection system so that said ejector arm moves from a first position to a second position to thereby move a disc from a stored position in a storage compartment to rollers adjacent the opening to be engaged by the rollers; and, b) thereafter causing said ejector arm to be stationary while said ejection system continues to operate the rollers to thereby eject the disc from said device.
 11. A process for operating a device for storing optical discs, the device including a housing having an opening through which a disc can pass, a carousel, an ejection system to eject a disc from a storage compartment and through the opening in said housing, and control means to cause said carousel to rotate and to cause said ejection system to operate as instructed by a user, the process comprising: a) operating the ejection system so that a cam comprising part of said ejection system rotates to move the ejector arm from a first position to a second position to thereby move a disc from a stored position in a storage compartment to said rollers to be engaged by said rollers; and, b) thereafter causing said cam to be stationary and causing said ejector arm to be stationary while said drive system continues to operate said rollers to thereby eject the disc from said device. 